The NFL Fumbles, Bumbles, Stumbles

So much is being reported. Too many talking heads are weighing in with their opinion on what the appropriate response/punishment should have been, for former NFL running back Ray Rice and his domestic abuse scandal. I will not bore any readers with the brutally offensive statistics concerning the rate at which in this country, a woman is either sexually assaulted or physically abused. Suffice to say, that in the time it took for you to read that sentence, it already happened somewhere in America to a woman, who is a mother, a daughter, a sister, or an aunt just like the one you have. I will not bore you with the speculation rampant on social media, that if this tape never existed, it would have been business as usual in the NFL. I won't even begin to waste your attention, on the audacity of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. He, who would have us believe like gullible sheep, that a sporting entity that nets annual revenue in the billions of dollars, was unable to gain access to the video recording of Ray Rice's brutal attack, and the disgusting callous treatment afterwards of his then unconscious fiancée, yet somehow TMZ was able to do so. Video footage from a casino, perhaps the most heavily scrutinized private location on the planet. I will spare you the time expressing my outrage at a judicial system, which indeed saw the tape, and chose not to put Ray Rice in jail, but rather allowed him to "agree" to enter counseling. For the sake of expediency, I won't delve into the psychological trauma domestic abuse can have on the abused party, made all the more horrific when we consider that Ray Rice's then fiancée Janay Palmer, was questioned by the commissioner of the NFL in the presence of the man who abused her. Too keep things short and sweet, which is the way we as a society seem to prefer things, I will simply offer this brief statement.

The NFL, a billion dollar entity, and the Baltimore Raven's a hundred million dollar entity, suspended their million dollar running back two games for knocking a woman unconscious on tape, in an elevator, and then dragging her lifeless body around with the same amount of grace you would treat a sack of dirty laundry. That not until the public outcry reached a deafening crescendo was Ray Rice cut from the team and suspended indefinitely from the league.

Perhaps we can't stop domestic violence; we are not in every home in America. But the NFL is...make sure we continue to hold them to a higher standard. The power for change lies in us.

"Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm...As you grow older you will discover that you have two hands. One for helping yourself, the other for helping others."